Snowflake ornament apparatus for interactive christmas traditions

ABSTRACT

A snowflake-shaped ornament apparatus constructed from a flat, rigid material with a side serving as a decorative surface and an opposite side serving as a reusable writing surface. The decorative surface allows a user to personalize the snowflake by covering it with paint, marking pen, glue, or fabric. The reusable writing surface is used for communicating with others that can be erased by a second user, often a parent-proxy for Santa Claus, to return written communication with the first, child user. The snowflake is constructed from a rigid material such as medium density fiberboard, solid wood, plywood, or gypsum. The decorative surface may be a coating such as paint or a wooden laminate and the reusable writing surface may be a coating or a laminate of dry-erase material, slate, or chalkboard paint.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO PENDING APPLICATIONS

There are no pending or filed applications related to the present application.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH

The rights to this invention are not subject to ownership, assignment, or transfer to the Federal Government. The Federal Government sponsored no part of this invention.

THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES SUBJECT TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

This section is not applicable.

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR SEQUENCE LISTING

This section is not applicable.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a children's craft apparatus, and more specifically the disclosure relates to a durable, rigid article in the shape of a snowflake to be introduced as an interactive Christmas activity for families.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Parents have used Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Father Christmas, and equivalent characters to influence children's behavior for many generations. The legend states that children whom exhibit good behavior will be rewarded with gifts of their choosing at Christmas, and children who exhibit bad behavior will receive something less desirable, for instance a lump of coal. According to legend, Santa Claus maintains a list of children and their behavior to be implemented at Christmastime. Communication modes with Santa include mailing letters to the North Pole, visiting an in-person character during the Christmas season, and with the advent of the Internet, email and video message uploads to one of various sites. Another mode is a figurine that acts as a proxy scout for Santa Claus.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In or more embodiments, an apparatus may include a rigid snowflake-shaped article with a side comprised of a decorative surface and an opposite side comprised of a reusable writing surface, a hanging means, and an accompanying set of written words that serves a dual purpose of an origin story and instructions for use. The snowflake shape serves as a unique identifier for the child-owner of the article who sends the article to Santa Claus each night. The decorative surface is a medium for decoration and preservation of a child's creative skills. It may be retained and displayed by parents in subsequent years to mark their child's growth. The re-usable writing surface serves as a medium for communication to and from Santa Claus, parents, or other fictional children's characters. The decoration of the snowflake article serves as a family activity at the start of the Christmas season and the writing surface is re-used for continued correspondence throughout the season.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a snowflake article with a written message to Santa Claus on a side covered with a reusable writing surface;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a snowflake article with added decorations and adornments to a coated side;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a cross-section of a snowflake article showing the rigid material of construction between a layer comprising a reusable writing surface on a side, and a layer comprising a coated surface for decorating on an opposite side;

FIG. 4 depicts snowflake articles packaged in a display box with art supplies, instructions for use, and instructions for communicating with Santa Claus;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a snowflake article with an embedded magnet on the decorated side, allowing the reusable writing surface side to be displayed to a viewer.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure, in some embodiments, includes a craft article with an outline in the shape of a snowflake constructed from a rigid material with one side coated or treated to accept decoration by markers, paints, glue, or inks and an opposite side serving as a reusable writing surface coated with a dry erase material, slate, or chalkboard paint. The snowflake shape was chosen to personalize the article for the child-user. Because no two snowflakes are alike, the child is assured that their unique messages to and from Santa Claus will not be confused with messages sent by other children.

The snowflake may be packaged in a container with art supplies, instructions for use, and a fictional narrative describing the method of writing, transmitting, and receiving messages from Santa Claus or equivalent Christmas figures, serving as a tool to influence children's behavior. Like the snowflake, the packaging will be decorated with Christmas and winter themes.

According to some embodiments, the snowflake will be constructed from fiberboard for strength and rigidity. The snowflake will be designed for reuse during a complete, annual Christmas season. The snowflake may contain a hole for ribbon to hang on a Christmas tree. The art supplies will provide for a durable and permanent decoration, allowing the finished snowflake to be preserved for future use as a stand-alone ornament and a retrospective tool for parents and children to compare children's skills growth or changing tastes.

A perspective view of a snowflake 1 is shown in FIG. 1. The side 2 shown is coated with a reusable writing surface 3 that is a laminate of dry-erase board. The snowflake 1 in FIG. 1 is constructed from medium density fiberboard, ⅛ of an inch thick 4. The reusable writing surface 3 reaches to all edges 5 of the snowflake. A written message 6 has been added to the surface 3 for the child to communicate with Santa Claus. The reusable writing surface 3 allows the parent-proxy to erase the child's message and create a reply message for the child to read. A hole 7 is included in one tab 8 of the snowflake 1 to add a ribbon or hook 9 for hanging.

FIG. 2 depicts a snowflake 10 with added decorations 11 on a coated side 12. The coating 13 serves as the substrate for the personalized decorations 14 applied by the child. The coating surface 13 of the embodiment depicted in FIG. 2 is paint. The added decorations 11 are made by paints, markers, and glued-on fabric.

A cross-section 15 of a snowflake 16 is shown in FIG. 3. The rigid material of construction, here solid wood, comprises the core 17 of the snowflake. The reusable writing surface 18 is chalkboard paint, coated directly on the solid wood core. The decorative surface 19 is plywood that has been painted on one side and adhered to the solid wood core 17 using glue.

Snowflakes 20 are packaged with art supplies 21 in a Santa Claus and winter-themed 22 display box 23 as depicted in FIG. 4. The snowflakes 20 are hanging from hooks 24 in the package 23 to provide a three-dimensional view, while simulating its use as an ornament. The packaging method provides room for the included art supplies 21 and an accompanying book 25 for parents to read to their children. The book 25 provides an origin story and instruction manual for using the snowflakes 20 to communicate with Santa.

Alternative methods for displaying the snowflake 26 include magnets 27 embedded into the snowflake's rigid core 28, as shown in FIG. 5. This allows for the snowflake to be displayed on a surface around the home or possibly moved around following the parents′/Santa Claus' reply message. 

What is claimed is: 1) A snowflake shaped ornament apparatus constructed from a flat, rigid material wherein the ornament allows a first, child user to personalize a decorative side of the ornament by covering it with paint, marking pen, glue, pressure sensitive adhesive, or fabric, while communicating with others by writing on an opposite side that is a reusable writing surface, the reusable writing surface can be erased by a second user to return written communication with the first, child user. 2) An apparatus in the shape of a snowflake comprising a side serving as a decorative surface; an opposite side serving as a reusable writing surface; a hanging means that is a drilled through-hole; the material of construction of the apparatus is a rigid material from the group consisting of cardboard, medium density fiberboard, plywood, oriented strand board, solid wood, polymer-wood composite material, gypsum, Plaster of Paris, polyethylene, polypropylene, or metal. 3) The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the decorative surface is a coating that is at least one of: finished medium density fiber board, balsa wood, plywood, pine wood, cork board, adhered paper, paint, powder coating, plated metal, laminated polymer, self-adhesive magnetic media, hook and loop fastener, silicone, plaster, gypsum wallboard, cement wallboard, clay, Styrofoam, porcelain, or adhered fabric. 4) The apparatus of claim 2 wherein the reusable writing surface is at least one of: slate, slate coating, dry-erase board, dry-erase paint, semi-gloss paint, dry-erase self-adhering film, acrylic plastic, latex polymer coating, epoxy polymer coating, acrylic polymer coating, or porcelain enamel. 5) The apparatus of claim 2 containing an additional mounting means that is an embedded magnet. 6) The apparatus of claim 2 containing an additional mounting means that is double-sided tape. 7) The apparatus of claim 2 containing an additional mounting means that is hook-and-loop fastener with adhesive tape surfaces. 8) An apparatus in the shape of a snowflake comprising: a side serving as a decorative surface free of markings and designs; an opposite side serving as a reusable writing surface; and a hanging means; the apparatus being packaged for sale with art supplies and instructions for personalization and two-way communication with a fictional Santa Claus character, used to incentivize children's behavior during the Christmas season. 